Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” —John 5:19

Some people think that humility is the end in itself. Is it? Is humility the ultimate grace? I think there are those who just think that it is. They think, If I can just achieve humility, as if people will then say, “Ah, isn’t he a humble person.”

Humility is, in fact, the means to the end. Humility itself is not the ultimate goal; the ultimate goal is obedience to the Father. This goal can never be achieved without humbling oneself, because any obedience has to be achieved by humility.

At the core of Jesus’ humility was surrender. The word surrender means to yield to another; it means to resign or to relinquish. Jesus’ humility was evident in His relinquishment of the form of deity. Without ceasing to be God He came to the earth and relinquished that ingredient by which men would see that He was fully God. Jesus constantly surrendered it to the will of the Father, and He kept saying, “By myself I can do nothing” (John 5:30). He could only do what He saw the Father do. He constantly yielded Himself to the will of the Father, and in the end He yielded to the authorities. He let them take Him. He could have called ten thousand angels; He would not even have had to do that. He was God and could have struck them dead. He could have let them see who He was. But no, He yielded to the authorities. He let them take Him to crucify Him.

We must ask ourselves, “Am I willing to subordinate myself, daily, to my heavenly Father? Am I willing to go before Him daily, and say, ‘Father, I subordinate myself to You’?” If Christ was willing, then we should be, too.

Excerpted from Meekness and Majesty (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1992, 2000).

Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confidence. —Proverbs 3:25-26

Did you ever wake up one day only to discover nothing is like it was? Everything has changed. You have different surroundings, different people around you, and a different outlook—and it happened almost overnight. It is as if the bottom of your life dropped out without any notice. You are having to cope with sudden change. That happened to Jacob.

Now there’s more than one kind of change. There can be an unforeseen change for the better, and you are glad that nothing is like it was—you couldn’t be happier; there can also be voluntary change—you made it happen. Yet, even though the change for Jacob was caused by external factors and he didn’t ask for it, no doubt it had the inevitable effect of changing him inwardly in certain ways, and that for the better.

When we are living within the purpose of God, the trauma of unwanted change will improve us, and the day will come, sooner or later, when we will thank God for all of it, although at the time we couldn’t be convinced that was possible. But for the most part, we don’t like change, especially if everything has been going along fairly well.

Four things happened to Jacob in a very short period of time. Three involved deaths, and the fourth was a family tragedy. Jacob moved twice during this time. Psychologists say that the second greatest trauma in life is moving; the first is the death of someone close to you. Here, Jacob was experiencing both; coinciding with the deaths of three people very close to him was a change of place.

Why did all these things happen to Jacob? God brings us to a place that we have to face life without any tie to the past, so that we will get our pleasure, not from knowing who finds out about this or that, but from knowing that God is pleased with us.

Excerpted from All’s Well That Ends Well (Authentic Media, 2005).

Go and humble yourself; press your plea with your neighbor! —Proverbs 6:3

Thinking of your own temptations, what are you facing in your own life at this moment? Could it be that you need to humble yourself? It is not a question of having it done for you. You must humble yourself. So we need to look at ourselves. Are you a strong-willed person? Do you have a reputation for proving your masculinity, your authority? Letting that image be tarnished requires humility. Or perhaps you can be a little difficult to get along with.

Conversely, the opposite may be true. You may say, “I’m not a strong-willed person; I’m a weak-willed person.” Does that make you exempt? That is just another form of pride, and you too need to humble yourself. Maybe the hardest thing you ever did was to accept responsibility and assert your input. It will take humility to do it.

None of us are humble by nature. There is no such thing. Even Jesus was not: He humbled Himself. There is a crucial difference, however, between our Lord and us in this connection. We are told that Jesus humbled Himself. In contrast, any humility that seems to flow from us is due to one thing: we have been humbled. Our humility, therefore, if you can call it that, tends to be passive: we are humbled involuntarily.

God sometimes allows something that brings us to our knees. It may be when our foolishness catches up with us and we are humiliated. We may not recognize it at the time, yet what is happening to us may be nothing but God judging us. It is painful to admit to that, and yet, if it is God so working, we have the example of David to show us humility. When David saw that God was going to judge him, he just said, “Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great” (2 Sam. 24:14).

Excerpted from Meekness and Majesty (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1992, 2000).

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. —Philippians 2:3

Have you ever noticed that the Bible never requires anything of us that the Son of God did not do Himself? The greatest hypocrisy in the world is putting demands on others that one would not do oneself. Everything that God asks of us, Jesus did on earth, yet we sometimes think when we first hear the call that it is something that we cannot bear to do because of the cost. This shows that our concern is merely with what we are going to have to relinquish and what our lifestyle would be like as a result. Indeed, that is our impulsive reaction the first time we hear any command from God. We are told that His commands are not heavy (1 John 5:3), yet we still think they are going to be. What we are told to do is to follow God’s way. Indeed, only a fool would turn his back on a request God makes.

It does not matter what the request is; that is part of God’s call to humility. That is emancipation, and it is worth it all, for everything that God requires of us is followed with commensurate grace.

Just as we are called by God to humility, so Jesus was called. You may have thought that it was not necessary for Jesus to do that. You may have thought Jesus was by nature meek and mild; after all, He did say, “I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matt. 11:29). However, I think that some people have the idea that Jesus was what we would refer to in America as “square.” This is completely wrong.

Jesus was a real man. He became like us, and this is why the writer of Hebrews keeps talking about His humanity. Jesus was no “square” but showed His strength and power through what He endured. Jesus, in fact, was the most humble person that ever lived. Yet it was not a received humility: it was an achieved humility.

Excerpted from Meekness and Majesty (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1992, 2000).

Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. —Hebrews 12:10

No parent is perfect; that is what is so ironic about this title. Perhaps you think back to your own childhood and how your parents raised you. You may want to go to your mother or your father and say, “You really made a mess of bringing me up!” Yet that’s the way parents are. They do as they think best, punish when they lose their tempers, and scold their children in front of other people.

But only God is the perfect Father. God disciplines us for our good, and He doesn’t make mistakes. Many of you have had an imperfect parent. Some of you can’t call God Father because your only frame of reference for a father is that the man who fathered you wasn’t very nice. Let me tell you something: if we have to have a perfect father in order to address God as Father—then no one would be able to do it. We are not supposed to look to our natural parents for the perfect frame of reference of what a father is supposed to be like. Look to Jesus. He is your frame of reference.

Let me say this: you and I need to remember God has a plan for our children as well as for us. The time comes when we have to release them. Maybe, after they are too old to discipline, we still want to point the finger and straighten them out. But perhaps you who have children need to join me in releasing them to God. He is the perfect Parent.

Excerpted from All’s Well That Ends Well (Authentic Media, 2005).

As Charisma News expands its reporting of
what the Holy Spirit is doing around the world, your feedback is more important
now than ever. We’re excited about offering you 24/7, up-to-the-minute coverage
from a Spirit-filled perspective that you can trust. But we still need to hear
from you so we can know which ways of delivering that news best suit you.

Send
us your thoughts and comments on our new daily format of the Charisma News
e-newsletter–we’re listening!{jcomments on}

Who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood… —1 Peter 1:2

Why did God make you you and not somebody else? Do you think God misfired? Do you think that there are accidents with God? Do you not know that God had you in mind from all eternity and He shaped you in your mother’s womb, overruling every experience you knew? It is all part of God fashioning you. For He has a purpose for your life, and He has given you something that is yours.

Your calling is irrevocable. This is the promise of a gift from God. It will not be something that you will lose. Something may be wrong with you, but your gift will be intact.

It is too easy to claim a false modesty in this. All of us who are in the body have been given a gift: you may be the eye, you may be the hand, you may be the foot, but the question is, how do you use it (1 Cor. 12:14-26)? Will you make others recognize it? To put it another way, suppose that you are right about something and you know it. You could, if you wanted to, by one word spill the beans and just vindicate yourself.

But what would Jesus have done? As we have seen, Jesus was God, yet He never thrust this upon anyone. They always saw Him only as a man. He revealed His deity to Peter, James, and John on the mountain when He was transfigured before them, yet even then He told them to keep it quiet. But Jesus was vindicated by the Spirit. The Spirit’s witness was enough for Him, and the Spirit’s willingness to show others who Jesus was, was enough for Him. He did not need to broadcast who He was.

He was always found where and when God wanted Him. We need to be found in the same place. Just to know that we are pleasing the Father should be enough. It is upon that goal that we must set our minds.

Excerpted from Meekness and Majesty (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1992, 2000).

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. —1 Peter 1:6

If we wait for circumstances to change before we heed God’s command to rejoice, we may wait a long time! If then we begin rejoicing only when circumstances change—but only then, what kind of gratitude is that? If we promise to show gratitude, we can only make good that promise if we maintain a positive sense of being thankful no matter how adverse the circumstances.

What, then, is the consequence of rejoicing and showing thanks when you don’t feel like it? It glorifies God. It shows a highly developed faith. It is observed by the angels. It is the greatest threat to our enemy, the devil. It shows how deeply we believe what we claim to believe. “If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength!” (Prov. 24:10). Rejoicing in the Lord, the proof of our gratitude, regardless of circumstances shows that we are genuine and that our faith is real.

What is more, it has an extraordinary way of moving God to act. This is the promise of gratitude. I never tire of reading or repeating the account of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, who was told that a vast army was coming against him. Alarmed, the king called a fast for all the people. A prophet of God stepped forward. “He said, ‘Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s'” (2 Chron. 20:15). Jehoshaphat and all the people fell down and worshiped. The battle began. There had never been a battle quite like it.

After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise Him for the splendor of His holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever” (v. 21).

The result: God stepped in. The enemy was suddenly overturned.

Gratitude thus contains an inherent promise. The promise is, show thankfulness and you get God’s attention. Show gratitude, and God gets involved. He is moved by praise and can’t keep from showing it!

Excerpted from Just Say Thanks! (Charisma House, 2005).

Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. —1 Corinthians 9:19

To quote my friend Joseph Ton, “Success in the eyes of the world is how many servants you have. Success in the eyes of Jesus is how many people you serve.”

God is looking for people who are willing to become servants, and we can expect that, like Jesus, we will be tested in that role to the extreme. Yet it is a great faith-builder, for one who is willing to be subordinate, and all that that means, must rely increasingly on God’s faithfulness. So we must ask ourselves how willing are we to go in pursuit of God’s standards rather than the world’s, which will always be the reverse.

Too often when we first come to God we are under the impression that God owes us something. We think we have bargaining power with God to ask Him questions and make Him answer us. Yet suddenly we begin to realize that we are nothing and that God owes us nothing. He owes us, if anything, a place in hell. It is at this point that we begin to say, “I subordinate myself to you.”

Everybody you meet thereafter will be your superior in some sense. And this is why Paul said in Philippians 2, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (v. 4). How humbling it is to accept authority from and be subordinate to one whom you think is less capable or qualified than you! How humiliating!

Yet the beginning of greatness is accepting authority. When the disciples asked for preferment, Jesus did not rebuke them. He just reversed the roles: let the greatest among you be the servant of the rest. This is just what Jesus did in His own life: He “emptied himself” and became a servant.

What we must ask ourselves, therefore, is to what extent will the marks of the bond servant, which characterized Jesus’ life, be ours?

Excerpted from Meekness and Majesty (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1992, 2000).

Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” —2 Kings 5:13

Perhaps you have gone to church or to a Bible study hoping for a word from the Lord, and you have sat there thinking, Well, so far God hasn’t spoken to me. I don’t know why I even came.

Second Kings 5 tells the story of Naaman, who suffered from leprosy. He hears of the famous prophet Elisha through his wife’s little Israelite servant girl. He makes all kinds of arrangements and finally goes to where Elisha is. But Elisha won’t even come out to meet him! Naaman feels insulted. Here he is—a commander and an officer—and Elisha won’t even greet him. Instead, the prophet sends a message (which Naaman doesn’t like at all): “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed” (v. 10).

Naaman goes away angry: “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy” (v. 11). “How dare he insult me? Go to the Jordan and wash seven times?!”

Naaman’s servants persuade him to believe that this really is a word from the Lord. Naaman goes into the Jordan once and comes out just like he was. The second time—still no change. When he goes in a third time, he thinks, Well, I’ll start getting better now. But no. Even after the sixth time, there’s no difference. But on the seventh time, lo and behold, he is healed completely!

It may be that God has given you a word and you don’t like it. You want something else, some other word. Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much” (Luke 16:10). Accept what God has given you, and who knows what will happen in the end?

Excerpted from When God Shows Up (Renew Books, 1998).